PatapscoMike

In my book, to get a clean " bowkill" you need to do 3 things.

1) shoot a deer
2) track it to where it died
3) eat it

IMO not a bowkill. He crippled a deer, which later died of the wounds. He found the carcass. Just a personal opinion, of course. If he feels it' s a legitimate bow kill, I guess that' s all that matters (to him).

wimp

I think in this case its a personal matter up to the individual. The deer is dead, its a kill. The best way I would use for determining if I counted a deer was if the shot killed it, and it was dead at the time I was looking for it and just failed to find it in time for some reason, I' d count it. If it died days later and someone, or myself just came across it , then no. Just the way I feel on the matter.

formula1

Do you consider the hunt successful when you run the buzzards off the carcass 1.5 weeks later? Cmon, that' s not a kill. That' s a poor shot that I would not be proud of nor interested in ' counting' . I' d leave the rack in the woods for the rodents to eat, ample punishment for a poor shot.

A sucessful bow kill is:
1) A good shot
2) A better tracking job
3) Find the deer and drag it out
4) Clean it, skin it, put it in the freezer, and eat it (or at your option donate it to your local food bank).
5) If it' s a nice buck, cape and take the head to the taxidermist.

Nothing less will do! Now you have every right to count it if you want, but I certainly wouldn' t be proud of telling that story, unless you want to teach someone what ' not' to do!!!

tealboy

Interesting points of view. I will not share these opinions with him b/c it will depress him, again. He definately took some solitude in finding the deer and in a more subtle way, celebrating the harvest vs. wondering for years to come if the deer died. I know some survive, but a lot of times they die from wounds but we like to tell ourselves, " he will probably survive" . It makes us feel better, but I am not sure how often it is true. Fortunately, most are not lost, but in due time, each of us may find ourselves in a similar situation.

He did tag the deer w/ one of his two tags. Based on some of these comments, sounds like he did not need to/or should not have. His season does not end until January, so using one of his two tags is somewhat respectable.

Thanks for the comments. I am always learning.

cyclone

Mighty tough standards you all set.

I guess mine never count, I don' t drag em out..I either carry them or canoe em out.

Some times I don' t have to track them, I see them drop...

Sometimes I don' t eat them...I give them away....sometimes not to the food bank.

and maybe, just maybe the young feller learned something about finding downed deer from the experience....

Let those of us without sin cast the first stone....

BobCo19-65

It doesn' t matter whether anyone considers it a bow kill or not. I think what is important here is that an individual knew that they had a bad hit, and knew that the deer would die from it. He never gave up looking for the deer even after a long period of time. I think that the individual deserves a big pat on the back for the effort that they put into recovering this deer. I think that 99.9% of bow hunters would have given up long before this time.

About whether tagging the deer. I think first that you should follow the laws of the state. If it is not specific, then if your friend took solitute in tagging the deer, the more power to him. He made the right decision, and shouldn' t think twice about it.

Congratulations on finding your buck, and you have my respect for never giving up on finding the deer!!!!

springgobbler

First, I give your buddy credit for showing persistence in finding the deer. Alot of people would have given up much, much sooner.

If he made a bad shot, hopefully he learned something from the experience. However, everyone makes a bad shot at some point. My theory is, there are those that have, those that will and those that will again. We can all practice until our fingers bleed and our releases break, but the fact is...we are not machines, we are human and are bound to make mistakes.

As far as counting your deer....to each his own. IMHO it is not the number that matters most....higher numbers doesn' t always equate to higher skills. I do commend your buddy for using a tag on the deer... not only does it preclude him from ' replacing' the one he " lost" , it also gives the Florida DNR (game commission or whatever you all call it down there) more information to aid in making their decisions.

Buckeye...
Did he put asteriks on the plaques? (* bad shots, but eventually recovered and hair transplants given)

Tazman

Cyclone there were a few stones cast, but the majority of replies have been simple personal opinions of what people view as a bow kill. If you read my first post I did say and as tealboy pointed out, he learned from his mistake which is the most important thing, he will be a better hunter in the future. If you do not in some way improve a little every year, then it may be time to quit.

davidmil

I think you SHOULD share these opinions with him. It' ll make him understand the bowhunting community a lot better. We really can' t have people going around bragging on their kill 2 weeks after the shot. We can' t have the antis using his story as an example of our way of life. His was a bad shot, a bad track and an unhappy ending with waisted meat. We can' t be all for the horns or the antis are right. I think I' d want to know what the majority of the fellow bowhunters think and how they think. NO, we' re not going to ban him for life or throw stones at him. He just should realize he isn' t going to get a lot of Atta-boys from the bowhunting fraternity with this kind of story. He' ll get condolensces or questioning eyes that ask, " what' s wrong with this guy. He screwed up and he' s bragging about it" . NOPE, you should print it out and give it to him. Two, so it didn' t work out. He should learn from it and try not to let it happen again. If he hunts a long time it will, but he should feel miserable.... not like a great white hunter.

BobCo19-65

I think he knew it was a bad shot, but did the right thing.

And he is gonna get an atta boy from me for his determination on finding the deer. Can you honestly say that many hunters would have went to the exent that this individual has? I think that most would have been back in their stand after spending maybe a day or so looking for their deer.

If anything, this is a good arguement against the anti' s. Because of the dedication and determination that this individual put in in order to recover his kill. Granted it was a bad shot. And I' m not entirely sure of the circumstances surrounding the shot, but as a hunter I do know that things happen beyond a hunters control. In any matter, his friend should focus on becoming better at taking more clean shots. But this individual should not be condemed for what he did after the bad shot. I don' t think that I have ever heard of such dedication in finding the deer. And honestly, I don' t give a crap what anti' s think in this situation. They can do their thing and I' ll do mine. And I sure the heck ain' t gonna check behind every tree worrying about anti' s or what they think.

Has anyone elso here ever seached for a deer that they have wounded for 1 1/2 weeks??? And from what I understood from the original post this was the individuals first deer with a bow. Personally after reading this whole story, I' d have to say that this individual has the potential of being a great bowhunter. I don' t think he needs to be put down for his efforts.